Control mechanism



y 1954 J. A. HREN 79,327

CONTROL MECHANISM Filed May 17, 1952 Jam-P A HOPE/M 1! TTORNE 1 Patented May 25, 1954 UNETED STATES .PATENT OFFICE CONTROL MECHANISM Joseph A. Hren, East Hampton, N. Y.

Application May 17, 1952, Serial No. 288,426

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to control mechanism of the type used for controlling a plurality of individual movements and has for an object to provide a unitary control wherein a single control handle can be used for the control of such movements.

The invention is particularly applicable to the control of hydraulically operated loading devices having a boom to be raised and lowered and a bucket to be tilted for loading or dumping, and provides a single control handle which may be moved vertically or horizontally to control both the elevation of the boom and the tilting of the bucket.

Another object is to provide a control mechanism which may be applied as an attachment to mechanism of the type having two or more control 1%. rs for the independent control of the elevation of the boom and the tilting bucket.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved control handle of the above type which may be applied to standard control mechanisms without undue alteration or modification thereof.

Another object is to improve the ease of control of mechanism of the above type.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

The present invention is applicable generally to mechanisms having two or more movable elements which controlled by separate control levers positioned to be actuated independently of each other. In one embodiment, the invention is applied to a hydraulic loader having a boom which is hydraulically elevated and carrying a tiltable bucket which is also hydraulically operated and is tiltable independently of the movement of the boom. In standard units of. this type the hydraulic control is actuated by valves which are located in a valve block and are controlled by individual handles which are arranged side by side and in a position accessible to the operator of the loader. One type of such mechan sm is manufactured by The Wagner Iron Works of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as an attachment for Ford and Ferguson tractors. It is to be understood, howcver, that the invention is applicable to various types of control mechanisms which are normally actuated by a pair or" adjacent control levers and is not to be restricted to the particular mechanism above referred to.

The mechanism according to the present invention includes a parallelogram type linkage actuated by a handle. The handle is connected to one of the control levers, for example to the lever controlling the tilting movement of the bucket and the parallelogram linkage is connected to actuate the shaft of the other control lever, for example the lever controlling the raising and lowering of the boom. The arrangement is thus such that lateral movement of the handle actuates the first lever for tilting the bucket and raising and lowering of the handle actuates the second control lever for raising andlowering the boom. In this way the bucket in efiect is caused to duplicate the movement of th handle so that the manual operation is greatly simplified.

The features of the invention will be better understood by referring to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which a specific embodiment has been set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevation on a small scale of a portion of a loading apparatus embodying thepresent invention; and

Fig. 2 is a. perspective view on a much larger scale showing the construction and operation of the control handle.

Referring to the drawing more in detail; the invention is shown as applied to a loader contprisinga bucket to pivotally mounted at l I to the end of boom l2 having a beam l3 and girders M and i5 forming a structural truss. The boom !2 is pivoted at it to a fixed plate 87 mounted on rods 18 and IS. The lower end of the rod 13 is secured as by bolt 29 to the chassis 2i of atractor having front wheels 22 and a head 23 containing a motor. The front end of the rod I9 is secured to a frame comprising a strap member 24 extending over the front end of the head 23 which carries the weight of the loader and-having front braces 25 secured thereto. The front braces 25 support a hydraulic pump 26 ina position to be connected to be driven by the front end of the crank shaft of the tractor motor. The front end of the rod l9 projects past the strap 24' and is attached to the front braces A stay 2'3 connects the rods 18 and It to provide-a rigid assembly. A gusset plate 23 connects the rod l8, stay 21 and strap 24.

The arrangement is such that the loader may be applied as an attachment to a standard truck or tractor.

The bucket 30 is actuated by a hydraulic cylinder 30 connected at one end to a bracket 3| on the beam I2 and having a piston connected at 32 to the bucket. The boom I2 is actuated by a hydraulic cylinder 35 connected to a gusset 36 attached to the rod 18 and having a piston 31 connected at 38 to the member l5. The cylinders and pistons are pivotally connected to the respective parts so that the bucket Ill may be tilted about the pivot ll by hydraulic pressure applied to the cylinder 39 and the beam 12 may be raised or lowered about the pivot H; by hydraulic pressure applied to the cylinder 35.

Hydraulic pressure is supplied by the pump 26 which is connected by a pipe not shown to a central housing 46 which is connected to the respective cylinders by pipes 4| (shown broken off for clarity) The hydraulic pressure to the cylinder 30 is controlled by a valve 42 having a plunger 43 actuated by a handle lever 44 having a hub 45 journaled about shaft 46. The connections are such that movement of the lever 44 toward the operator (to the left in the figures) causes the bucket [5 to tilt forwardly (clockwise in the figures) for dumping and movement of the hand lever 44 away from the operator (to the right in the figures) causes the bucket to tilt backwardly into the position shown in Fig. 1 for loading.

The hydraulic pressure to the cylinder 35 is controlled by a valve 43 having a plunger 49 actuated by a hand lever 59 having a boss 5i which is fixed to the shaft 46 by a set screw 52.

The arrangement is such that movement of the lever 50 away from the operator (to the right in the figures) controls the hydraulic pressure in the cylinder 35 in a sense to lower the boom 12 and movement of the hand lever 50 toward the operator (to the left in the figures) results in raising the boom 12.

The mechanism thus far described is of stand ard construction and only so much has been set forth herein as is necessary to an understanding of this invention.

The control mechanism of the present inven tion comprises an arm 55 having a handle 56 at one end and having its other end U-shaped to form a flange 5'1. The U-shaped end is disposed around the end of the lever 44 and pivotally secured thereto by a bolt 58. A link 56 is pivoted to the end of the flange 57 by bolt 60, and extends generally parallel to the lever 44. The free end of the link 59 is pivoted to an arm El by a bolt 62. The arm BI is fixed to the shaft 46 by a set screw 64.

The arm 55, link 59, arm 5i and lever 44 constitute a parallelogram which provides for parallel motion of the arms 55 and GI although it is not necessary that exact parallelism be maintained. The length may accordingly be varied somewhat if desired. The arm 55 may extend to the right or left (as seen in Fig. 1) according 1 to the side of the operator on which it is positioned. The housing 4e may of course be reversed in position if desired.

In operation the handle 55 constitutes the manual control device for actuating the bucket and boom in unison. In the embodiment above described downward movement of the handle 56 causes the arm 55 to pivot about the bolt 58,

thereby moving the link 59 downwardly and causing clockwise movement of the arm 6| which produces similar movement of the shaft 46 and hand lever 50. This, as above described, causes the boom 12 to lower. Conversely, raising of the handle 58 produces counterclockwise movement of the handle 50 and raises the boom (2.

Lateral movement of the handle to the left (in the figures) moves the hand lever 44 to the left and causes the bucket ID to tilt forwardly for dumping. Lateral movement of the handle 56 to the right causes a corresponding movement of the handle 44 and tilts the bucket to upright position for loading.

Hence the handle 56 constitutes a unitary control for the loader in which the bucket in general follows the movement of the handle. If the handle is moved downwardly and toward the operator the boom is lowered and the bucket tilted at the same time.

This unitary control is particularly advantageous in connection with a truck or tractor as it leaves one hand of the operator free to operate the vehicle.

The invention is not to be restricted to the embodiment disclosed but may be adapted to various uses as will be apparent to a person skilled in the art. The invention is only to be restricted in accordance with the scope of the following claim.

What is claimed is:

A control mechanism for a loader having a boom mounted for vertical movement and carrying a bucket pivoted for tilting movement thereon and having hydraulic valves including sliding pistons connected respectively to control the raising and lowering of said boom and to control the tilting of said bucket, said control mechanism comprising a pair of levers mounted side by side to swing about a common shaft and carrying links connected respectively to actuate said sliding pistons, an arm pivotally connected to the free end of one of said levers and carrying an actuating handle, the second lever being fixed to said shaft, a second arm fixed to said shaft and extending generally parallel to said first arm, a link interconnecting said arms, said lever, said link and said arms substantially forming a parallelogram whereby pivotal movement of said first arm actuates said shaft to control the raising and lowering of said boom and lateral movement of said first arm actuates said first lever to control the tilting of said bucket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,463,675 Beyerstedt Mar. 8, 1949 2,517,582 Lull Aug. 8, 1950 2,549,969 Hesemann Apr. 24, 1951 2,619,244 Smith Nov. 25, 1952 2,628,731 Reuter Feb. 17, 1953 2,658,635 Nelson Nov. 10, 1953 

